The road safety cell of the ministry of road transport and highways swung into action after an RTI on road safety. The cell has reiterated its 2011 directive to remove liquor shops from all national highways and not issue licence to liquor vendors along the highways. It has demanded a report from the joint secretary in the transport ministry on the action taken in this regard.
The RTI was filed by a Gurgaon based activist Aseem Takyar, who sought a list of replies. The transport ministry, in its response to the activist, furnished the details of the direction given to states and union territories in March 2013 regarding the reinforcement of the directive and the corrective measures to be taken in case licence has already been issued to liquor vends.
"My application has been referred to the appellate authority. But I haven't received any response on the action taken on removing liquor vends. There are liquor shops all along the highway," said Takyar.
The department of excise and taxation, Gurgaon, said they had no knowledge of any such rule regarding the ban. "We have received no direction regarding the implementation of such a directive," an official said.
The directive was issued over one-and-a-half-years ago but liquor shops dot the national highway in the Millennium City. Many of them are at key junctions, including the IFFCO Chowk, Rajiv Chowk and MG Road. The state has continued to reissue licences to existing liquor vends. The latest is the Singhla wines on land leased out by the Haryana tourism. The government charged R48 lakh as the licence fee to allow the shop to continue its business.
{{/usCountry}}The directive was issued over one-and-a-half-years ago but liquor shops dot the national highway in the Millennium City. Many of them are at key junctions, including the IFFCO Chowk, Rajiv Chowk and MG Road. The state has continued to reissue licences to existing liquor vends. The latest is the Singhla wines on land leased out by the Haryana tourism. The government charged R48 lakh as the licence fee to allow the shop to continue its business.
{{/usCountry}}